There are no books in the Bible that Adventists identify more closely with than Daniel and Revelation.
The book of Daniel is seen as containing one of the foundational messages of our faith (Daniel 8:14) and it is studied often. Similarly, the book of Revelation also contains key foundational messages, such as the message of the three angels of Revelation 14, except that people tend to be a little more intimidated by it. Some people find it hard to understand because of its imagery and symbolic language.
Stick Figures
Eight years ago, I traveled around sharing studies on Revelation 17. I would draw scenes using stick figures to help people understand these verses. I would use stick men because there were no images available for all the verses. To my surprise, this was a great success and people would often come up to take pictures of my very basic stick drawings. This gave birth to an idea. What if people had access to professional illustrations of all the verses of the entire book of Revelation?
With that tool in hand, people could really study and understand for themselves the messages found in this amazing book. Thus, after years of work, our book was born, Mysteries Illustrated: The Book of Revelation, Verse by Verse.
Given the success of my stick drawings, I decided to take steps to find out what was required to create a book with professional, realistic illustrations of the entire book of Revelation. But where do I start?
Servio Cordoba
First, I contacted an illustrator who lived nearby and described the project to him. When he stated the cost of one illustration, I was a bit discouraged thinking about the total number of images for all the verses and the total cost of the project. It seemed impossible from a financial standpoint. But in my experience with God, I knew He could open impossible doors when I moved forward in faith. So, after much prayer, I knew that this was going to be one of those experiences. We organized the project and presented it to different possible sponsors. It was a long time knocking on many doors. Most of them closed, but eventually God sent two sponsors who said, “Yes! We want to be part of this project.” So, I began in earnest to work on the project.
First, we gathered a team of professional illustrators that had the skill, discipline, and talent to produce the high-quality images we were after. I converted my stick drawings into rough drafts and wrote very long detailed notes for the illustrators to know exactly what we wanted each image to look like. It was very important for the project, that each image showed exactly what the Bible said. This would take into account historical, geographical, and cultural facts without us adding any interpretation. I worked on it for five years with the illustrators until we had over 260 images. Each image was unique, beautiful, and of the highest quality.
We explored the options of working with different publishers, but in the end decided that in order to maintain the integrity of the project, it would be best to publish it ourselves. Thus, Golden Trumpet Inc. was founded and printing began in 2019.
We aimed to launch our book at the General Conference in Indianapolis in 2020. However, the crisis of the pandemic threw a curveball into our plans. As increasing uncertainty of the future, border shut downs, and many events being canceled, we had to take a step back from our book launch.
It was difficult not to be able to share the book after all those years of hard work. However, God wanted us to learn that He was in full control of the project. We needed to trust His timing, His blessing, and not our skills or efforts alone. We started out small, sharing the book with friends, family, and church members. People who saw the book were always astonished and excited to have such a well done and useful tool in their hands.
Over time we have had the opportunity to share our book with more and more people around the world. It has truly been a blessing to hear testimonies of people using our book to better understand and share the gospel message. This resource is vital in helping old and young better understand the book of Revelation. This is why we know every Bible believing Christian should have access to this book.
“Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:13).
This verse is in the introduction of the book and it reveals there is a treasure store of knowledge and understanding in the book of Revelation. Years before the apostle John received the visions on the island of Patmos, God gave the promise of a blessing for those who read this book. This promise is still real today for those interested in discovering the special messages God has for the people of the last days.
We are on a mission to share beautiful, engaging, and inspiring material that bring the books of the Bible to life through illustration and study. Mysteries Illustrated offers readers a verse by verse look at the book of Revelation, uninterrupted by interpretation…just the Bible verses and the corresponding images so you can study for yourself the messages found within this book.
Visit our website to purchase your own copy, find out more about the book, and our future projects. We are sure it will be a blessing to you. It is our purpose that people learn to love and appreciate the messages God has given us in His inspired Word.
We are prayerfully getting ready to launch our future projects, illustrating other books of the Bible. We can’t wait to see what God has in store for us and hope that the resources we are creating are an inspiration to you and those you care about.
Servio Cordoba
General Editor
Jeffery Acton
North American Distributor
Mysteries Illustrated: The Book of Revelation Verse by Verse
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“Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy” (Psalm 107.2).
